{"id":2738,"date":"2010-03-29T22:47:52","date_gmt":"2010-03-30T06:47:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=2738"},"modified":"2021-02-01T07:29:42","modified_gmt":"2021-02-01T15:29:42","slug":"290-million-for-borgata","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/290-million-for-borgata\/","title":{"rendered":"$290 million for Borgata"},"content":{"rendered":"

That’s what MGM Mirage’<\/strong>s half is expected to bring and it won’t happen until next year, according to J.P. Morgan<\/strong>‘s latest set of estimates. We could debate whether or not MGM should have started shopping the place a year ago, when the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement<\/strong>‘s (un)suitability report on Pansy Ho<\/strong> hit CEO Jim Murren<\/strong>‘s desk. But it’s useful to remember that visions of $1 billion plus for the Tropicana Atlantic City<\/strong> had already crumbled and the New Jersey Casino Control Commission<\/strong> could barely give the place away.<\/p>\n

The best window of opportunity for MGM to count its money and run from Atlantic City<\/strong> closed roughly two years back and now it’s a question of salvaging whatever Murren can — especially now the Boyd Gaming<\/strong> is apparently hoarding its moolah for another run at Station Casinos’ assets, meaning no exercise of that right of first refusal, if Boyd CEO Keith Smith<\/strong>‘s public comments are any indication.<\/p>\n

While sanguine about MGM’s ability to satisfy debt maturities, JPM analysts lowered their Strip cash-flow expectations by $57 million (or 6%). Their reasoning? “[W]eaker-than-expected group\/convention business at Mandalay Bay<\/strong> in the period, continued softness at lower-tier LV Strip properties, and lower-than-expected spend per patron at Bellagio<\/strong>.<\/em>”<\/p>\n

Where angels fear to tread<\/strong>. Whatever regulatory pitfalls may await one in Macao<\/strong> they are as nothing compared to the cesspool of corruption that is the casino industry in the Philippines<\/strong>. Major U.S. operators have given the archipelago a wide berth and its always a reliable index of this or that company’s level of desperation when the prospect of a Filipino operation is floated. This time it’s Harrah’s Entertainment<\/strong>, which is entertaining the offer of a management contract for a proposed casino in Manila Bay<\/strong>. To look at it from a positive perspective, this will Harrah’s another chance to hoist the Caesars<\/strong> flag. Despite corporate promises to the contrary, Harrah’s employment of its star brand has been, to put it mildly, timid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That’s what MGM Mirage’s half is expected to bring and it won’t happen until next year, according to J.P. Morgan‘s latest set of estimates. We could debate whether or not MGM should have started shopping the place a year ago, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23,60,28,14,7,22,62,11,110,25,57,9,19,21,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2738"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2738"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29176,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2738\/revisions\/29176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}